Whirling display device



y 1951 w. w. WELCH, JR

WHIRLING DISPLAY DEVICE Filed March 17, 1950 mLL/AM W. WELCH JR.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS,

Patented July 17, 1951 OFFICE" WHIRLING DISPLAY William W. Welch, Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to William W. Welch, Cincinnati, Ohio Application March 17, 1950, Serial No. 150,305

This invention relates to a whirling display device for an electric floor fan of the type having upwardly facing rotary propeller fan blades and an inverted conical air spreader thereover and a generally flat top.

The object is to provide an attention-attracting advertising medium which may be inexpensively made and which the merchandiser of this type of fan can associate with one of'the fans without marring it so as to detract from its value. Other objects may be inferred from the following:

A specific example of one form of the invention is disclosed by the following description with the aid of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Fig. 1 shows the device applied to the described type of fan and Fig. 2 shows the device in cross-section taken on the line 22 in Fig. 1.

Only the upper portion of the floor fan is illustrated in Fig. 1. This is sufficient to show the upwardly facing rotary propeller fan blades l and the inverted conical air spreader 2 and the flatly domed but generally flat top 3. This type of fan rests on the floor with its top approximating in height the seat of a chair. In operation the fan sucks the cool air from near the floor and blows it upwardly against the spreader 2, the latter causing the air flow to spread radially and upwardly. The spreader need not be truly conical and the top shape being flat to varying degrees, depending on the designing characteristics of the difierent manufacturers.

The new device itself includes a base 4 having a bottom shaped to rest gravitationally 0n the central portion of the top 3. The bottom of this base is fiat enough and wide enough to position the base against tilting excessively. Usually the top 3 of this type of fan is highly polished and, therefore, slippery, so the base 4 is provided with a bottom layer 5 that is fixed to the base. This layer may be made of rubber or other material keeping the base 4 from slipping around excessively on the fan top 3. The layer 5 may be a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive or other material, with the understanding that the material should not be such as might permanently disfigure the fan top 3.

A display panel 6 is rotatively mounted and supported, by the base 4, in a substantially vertical plane. This panel has lateral end portions overhanging the periphery of the top 3 on diametrically opposite sides thereof. As illustrated this is done by making the panel 6 longer horizontally than the diameter of the fan top 3.

1 Claim. (01. 40 s9j Vanes I depend from the overhanging portions, of'the panel 6 in vertical planes and extend downwardly below'the base, or upper portion, of;

the conical air spreader 2. These vanes terminate short of the floor level of the fan; v p I The display panel 6 provides .space onwhich advertisements or other display material maybe applied. The panel 6 may be given an attractive edge contour as in the fashion illustrated by Figs-1.

In operation, the fan merchandiser or other user of the device positions one of the described type of fans in a conspicuous position. Then he sets the base 4 on the central portion of the fan top so that the device, as a whole, naturally assumes the position shown in Fig. 1. The panel 6 and vanes are symmetrically disposed about the rotative axis of the device to avoid unbalancing tendencies. The layer 5 prevents the base 4 from slipping too freelyto interfere with the functioning of the device.

With the whirling display device so positioned the electric fan is next turned on. The rotative propeller fan blades 1 drive the air against the spreader 2 so that the air is deflected or spread outwardly and impinges on the vanes I. These vanes are radially positioned respecting the spreader 2 and are not rotated by the moving air in the fashion of a paddle wheel. Therefore, the panel 6 is not whirled around in such a rapid fashion that messages or advertising matter carried by the panel cannot be read or adequately observed.

The principle of operation is that the rotative propeller fan blades not only move the air upwardly but also impart a whirling eiTect to the air. The spreader frictionally reduces this whirling tendency to some degree but not so much that the radially spreading air leaving the spreader is not also whirling to some extent. It is this whirling motion of the air that applies rotative force to the vanes 1 so that they rotate and cause the panel to whirl.

Because of the above, the resulting efiect is an animated but not excessively rapid whirling of the panel. The rotating panel tends to attract attention while the mere fact that the panel is thus Whirled provides potential customers with visual evidence of the general efiectiveness of the fan and of the fact that it produces what is in effect a whirling spray of air.

Now as to details, the base 4 is a flat rectangle made of wood. The panel 6 is in the form of a single piece of heavy paper or cardboard piece that is folded downwardly so it doubles on itself to provide a double-wall construction. A bearing block of wood 8 is secured between the double walls and is vertically drilled to receive a vertical pointed pin 9 having its bottom end secured in a hole in the top of the base 4. The base is separable from the balance of the device by pulling out the pin 9 from the hole through the block 8. The vanes I constitute integral continuations of the panels double walls with their lower ends brought together at 10. and secured to each other at their bottom edges. The block 8 struts the double walls apart so that they and the vanes have the rigidity-imparting shapes shown by Fig. 2.

Folding pop-ups l l are attached to or cut from the double walls of the panel 6. These may; also be made of heavy Weight paper or cardboard. The construction of the entire device issuch that it can be folded substantially flatly for convenient shipment to the user.

The vanes I are shown as duplicating each other i'n their general dimensions and as being symmetrically dis osed respecting the rotative axis'of the device. Fans of the type described whirl the air out relatively uniformly. Under these conditions there is little tendency for. erratic-or unbalanced whirling of the device. 'With the'panel' 6' and vanes l symmetrically made the entire device is in substantial balance so. that no undue difilculty is experienced during its oper- 4 ation with the base 4 merely gravitationally resting on the top 3 of the fan.

I claim:

A whirling display device for an electric floor fanbf the type having upwardly facing rotary propeller fan blades and an inverted conical air spreader thereover and a generally flat top, said device including, in combination a base having a bottom shaped to rest gravitationally on the central portion of said top, a display'panel rotatively mounted by said base in a substantially vertical plane and having lateral end portions overhanging the periphery of said top on diametrically opposite sides thereof, and vanes depending from. said portions in vertical planes and extending downwardly below the base of said conical air. spreader radially thereof and terminating short of the floor level of said fan.

WILLIAM W. WELCH, JR.

.EEFERENCES CITED 'Thefollowing references are of record in the filed this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date 

